A wildcat is being brought to one local high school due in part to a grant from the Redlands Educational Partnership Foundation.

Redlands East Valley High School art teacher Tracy Massimiano applied for an art grant last year to fund the creation of a bronze sculpture of the school’s mascot. In November, the foundation awarded the grant for just under $3,000, said president Lynn Whitmer.

“I thought we needed a wildcat sculpture and I wanted more public art around the school,” Massimiano said. “One of the art department’s goals is to make a sculpture garden.”

Massimiano hired Loma Linda sculptor Scott Krohne to create the wildcat, which will rest on a boulder outside the school’s art gallery. He has worked with Massimiano before, teaching her and students different sculpting techniques.

Krohne began working on the project before the school received the grant. Since September, he has researched cats, made numerous sketches and smaller versions of the sculpture and sculpted foil and Papier-m ch models.

“When you see a bronze, it’s not a single accomplishment,” Krohne said. “It’s like 20 different pieces of art.”

In January, a boulder was brought to the school and placed in a planter outside the gallery. Krohne made a plaster replica of the top of the rock so he could contour the clay wildcat sculpture perfectly to the rock’s surface.

Now, the final clay model is well underway. Krohne began in March, creating a wire frame. During the school’s spring break, he made way on the clay body and is now perfecting the details like fur and muscle.

“Right now, it’s all in the subtlety,” Krohne said. “It’s making the fur look realistic without over doing it. It’s just carving away and carving away.”

Krohne said because the bronze sculpture will be a single color, he must create shadows to create black lines and emphasize the detail and make the cat attractive.

“Think of a person with no eyebrows, no makeup,” Krohne said. “It’s hard to look interesting like that.”

He is considering where sunlight will hit the cat to determine where best to place lines. Because the sculpture will be viewable from all angles, Krohne must pay close attention to detail all around the body.

“In a painting, you can control what direction people are going to look at it from,” Krohne said. “You can control the lighting. This is an integration from 360 degrees. That’s the challenge with sculptures.”

Krohne is building the clay model inside the school’s gallery so students may drop by and watch him work.

“Students are coming in to see the process,” Massimiano said. “I’ve taken all my art classes in to see the progression.”

He is documenting the entire process and has put up display boards throughout the gallery so students can see how a bronze sculpture is made. All of the early cat models are on display, along with casts he made for parts of the head. There are photographs of wildcat skeletons and different facial expressions of cats.

“I’ve never really thought about bronze sculptures and how much work goes into them before seeing this,” said senior Nicholas Wilson, president of the school’s art club.

Whitmer said this type of educational aspect is why the foundation awarded Redlands East Valley one of 12 grants in November.

Those involved said the whole school community will benefit from the sculpture.

“It’s going to be one of those things that once it’s up, students and parents will want to have their pictures taken with it,” Massimiano said. “Then they will be able to see the benefit of it.”

Krohne said it is hard to put a price tag on the art and difficult for students to understand the length of its lifespan.